Fisherman frequently want to relax and not hold a fishing rod continuously while still desiring to have the line in the water to catch fish. When the fisherman's vehicle is near the water, it would be very convenient to have a device to mount on the vehicle which could hold the fishing rod while the fisherman was in the vehicle to avoid the direct sun, to use the vehicle's air conditioning, to get out of the rain or for many other reasons. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,167,284 issued to Lynch and 3,744,688 issued to Kezer disclose devices for carrying fishing rods on bicycles and U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,897 issued to Luck discloses a rack for carrying bicycles on a motor vehicle. None of these suggest a simple device for removable mounting of a fishing rod on a motor vehicle.
Also, highly desirable would be a fishing rod holder which not only would be mounted on a vehicle but also would serve as a fishing rod holder used independently of the vehicle for those situations where the vehicle is not near the water. While not demountable from a vehicle several devices have been described to hold fishing rods. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,211,278 issued to Le Febvre, 2,264,744 issued to Dunnam, 3,546,805 issued to Schaeffer, 4,086,716 issued to Donahue and 4,603,501 issued to Radcliff.
Thus despite the universal interest in fishing and long recognized problems in having an unattended fishing rod holder, there still remains a need for a single device which is easily and removably mounted on a motor vehicle and which also has utility as a holder for fishing rods independently of the vehicle.